AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Seff’s shoulders slump as his confusion takes over, and he drops the food he had snatched up.
Edith reaches across me, placing her hand on Seff’s. “Seff, hun, Caelan and I are having… memory problems. I’ve lost a few days. Caelan, here, has lost weeks. Things are… not great.”
He looks between us all, and I drain my water to keep myself from screaming in frustration.
“I think I may be able to help.” He drums lightly on the table while he thinks, his big leg bouncing next to me, and my hand itches to hold it still. “I saw you the night before the full moon. You were with Tor. Do you rememberanything?”
I just shake my head, unwilling to once again attempt the pain that comes whenever I try to remember. Seff sighs and lifts his ever-present navy ball cap to drag his hand through his hair before pulling it back on backwards. Everyone leans in slightly to hear his story.
“Right, so I was on my way to the gathering in the Woods for the pack, you know? I saw you and this purple guy. He had this almost rainbow sheen to his skin. Tall, silver-white hair. Hot as all get out. Ass like a fucking juicy peach?”
A small growl escapes me out of absolutely nowhere, shocking everyone at the table. But I wave at Seff to continue and we decide to let the moment pass.
“Anyway, I may have… pretended to attack you? In wolf form?” He winces and side-eyes me. “Uh, this guy, Tor, he kind of took exception to me pretending to eat you and tried to attack me.” Seff’s tanned skin has taken on a bright red blush. “It took you a minute to figure out who I was, and you had to get between us… but you know how my wolf gets. It was athing. Anyway, you guys came and spent the night at the gathering. It was cool.” He laughs humourlessly.
“Anyway, you guys said that you were travelling into the Woods to find his brother?” His voice goes up at the end like he is unsure, but then he sees the map and snatches it up. “Yeah, his brother had gone missing in the Woods, and you guys were trying to find him. Something about him being a massive fae nerd and him being on an expedition and Tor being worried for him because it was all suss as fuck and his fae-tuition was wigging out over the whole thing. Nanna Berry told you guys not to go because there was something really bad out there.” He speaks rapidly as he fills in more details, stabbing his finger at the final charred spot on the map. “But apparently you didn’t listen.”
The rest of us share an incredulous look, and the fear I have been attempting to keep at bay is back, choking my chest again. Suddenly breathing seems nearly impossible.
With a quick jerk, I shove at Seff, pushing at him until he gets the hint and stands up. I follow, my movements unsteady as I bend at the waist, doubling over, hands digging into my knees as I hyperventilate. I struggle to catch hold of my breath, the sharp pants stinging in my chest.
“I didn’t mean to upset you. I’m sorry! Shit, sorry!” He rubs my back as he apologises, but I can’t hear him over the thundering sound of the blood pumping through my veins.
Roan’s deep voice breaks through my panic. “Fuck, look, it’s getting late. You guys need actual sleep before you decide anything. Go get settled in your rooms and we’ll figure out a plan in the morning.”
Edith looks like she wants to protest, but a sharp look from Mauvy cuts her off. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I’m grateful to Roan for making the decision for me, because right now I just don’t have it in me. My brain is completely fried from the information Seff has unloaded, completely unable tocompute that there are two whole weeks and awhole personI have managed to completely forget.
The wrongness of it all settles over me like a cloak as Seff drags me up to my room above the Tavern. I try to protest, meagerly, that I need to get back home, but my heart knows I am not leaving here, not leaving the Woods, until this is settled. Even if it is terrifying. But above it all, probably the most disconcerting thing is the way Seff carefully pulls back the clean sheets on the soft bed, and tucks me in, gently kissing my head and brushing the hair from my head without even making a pass at me or a dirty joke.
“Sleep, Caelan, you need it. I’ll take a few days off. We’ll figure this out.” And then he leaves, the door clicking softly shut as I slip into unconsciousness.
***
For fuck’s sake, we are walking.Again. I swear my feet screamed in protest when I shoved them back into my boots this morning. Exhaustion made everything twice as hard. I hadn’t slept well. The falling asleep bit was easy, but once I was out I was haunted again with more dreams of purple skin and silver-white curls.
At least now I have a name to go with the man invading my sleep and stealing my peace.Tor. My memories torture me, like ghosts lingering just out the corner of my eye, disappearing whenever I try to focus. It was decided that we were going to go back to Edith’s. Now that we havesomeinformation, she should be able to do her witchy thing and hopefully unblock our memories.
Seff had kind of outdone himself, calling his dad to take a few days off work to come with us. They work together in a construction company in Twin Heads. I’d heard Roderick say something about taking care of the pack, in reference tomeof all beings, and to take the time he needed. Roan had wanted to join us, but we’d assured him we’ll be fine and he needed to manage the Tavern.
Without the Woods actively working against us, we make it to Edith’s easily. In fact, it kind of seems like the Woods have cleared the path for us and it is honestly nice to get a win for once.
When we get to Edith’s, Seff makes himself right at home straightaway, fiddling with the little trinkets and curiosities, overloading the space until Edith has enough and smacks his hands like a child, telling him to go sit down. I join him before I get in trouble too, flopping into one of the couches. Edith gives us a warning glare, just as Seff is picking at the beak of a taxidermy crow, then abandons us to go to her kitchen to get to work, knocking together a magical cure for us both.
The sounds of her slamming cupboard doors, chopping, chanting and clanging things together fill the awkward silence in the sitting room. What I wouldn’t give for a tv right about now. It is weird being in the same room as him; we had run into each other often enough since our split, but italwaysfeels awkward. Especially since he’d taken every opportunity since to try to rekindle our thing, while I had tried to ignore his existence. I was never quite sure how serious he’d been about it, but now that heisn’thitting on me, it is just as weird. I watch dust mites dance in a stream of light filtering in through the blinds, trying to think of something to say, but he beats me to it.
“Do you remember that time we borrowed my uncle’s dirt bikes and rode them through the edge of the Woods near Twin Heads?”
I laugh at the memory. We were so young and stupid. I’d never been on a bike at all before and we were riding down a stupidly steep hill in the mud. Seff had crashed and smashed his bike to smithereens. I’d come off and broken my arm and messed up my knee real bad and I’d been on crutches for weeks. I throw one of the many cushions at him, which he catches easily, stuffing it behind his head, getting comfy.
“We weresodumb. Ma wanted to kill you.”
Seff scoffs incredulously. “Me?! It was your idea! She never liked me.”
I smile sadly. She hadn’t liked him, not because of who he was as a person, but because he was a shifter and the pack’s rejection. I had tried to convince her he was different, but she never fully came around. “She just didn’t understand.”
Seff waves me off. And that is one of the best things about him. He is just genuinelygood. People always take him for being a bit of an idiot, mistaking hiseasy-going nature for lack of intelligence or cunning, and it had always pissed me off when they dismissed him.
“I get it. I didn’t mean to make you sad, especially with all of this.” He waves his hand vaguely around the room. Edith is swearing up a storm in the kitchen and there is a little explosion before she calls out that she is fine. I choose to trust her on that one.
